OM A119

Almonds (1267 Mha) and pistachios (385 Mha) are important nut tree crops in the Mediterranean area, including Iran country, and representing both around the 75% of the world surface. Universities and research centres have done and continue to do much research in these two species, resulting in a considerable evolution on both plant material and orchard management. During more than 40 years, the GREMPA (Mediterranean Research Group for Almond and Pistachio), established with CIHEAM support in the 1970s, has carried out work on the evaluation and improvement of genetic resources of Mediterranean origin, and has promoted debate on research in all aspects of the cultivation and industrialisation of these two species. The group is currently in integrated into the FAO-CIHEAM Research Network on Nuts and meets approximately every 4 years. The XVI GREMPA Meeting was held in Meknès, Morocco from 12 to 14 May 2015, organized by the École Nationale d’Agriculture de Meknès and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ-CIHEAM), with the collaboration of the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Morocco. The XVI GREMPA was a forum to discuss the issues challenging almonds and pistachios and to promote the active participation of researchers from all Mediterranean countries as well as from other parts of the world. More than ninety researchers, students and professionals from 10 different countries (Algeria, Australia, Belgium, France, Hungary, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, and USA) attended the Meeting and contributed by presenting their works and sharing their ideas and experiences. This publication compiles 60 full articles of the contributions presented at the Meeting, that represent a good sample of the research currently carried out on the different aspects of breeding and genetic resources evaluation, crop managing and industrialization of almonds and pistachios in the Mediterranean basin countries and beyond.